The US Military refers to certain devices as “producing HC smoke”, e.g., grenades, smoke pots, and artillery shells are used to produce HC smoke. Soldiers and munition plant workers can be exposed to HC smoke and its volatile components. HC Smoke is produced by the combustion of a mixture of three primary reagents: hexachloroethane, zinc oxide, and granular aluminum. The hexachloroethane (HCE) and ZnO are mixed proportionally at about a 1:1 ratio comprising of between 90-94% of the total composition for the reactive mixture. The remainder of the composition is granular aluminum (Al) metal (6-10%). When the smoke pots or other HC smoke munitions are set off, toxic vapors that include Zinc Oxide, Zinc Chloride, Hydrochloric acid, Phosgene (carbon oxychloride—COCl2), and other chlorinated vapors are released into the air. Other metals, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury, have also been reported in HC smoke.
Prior research on the disposal of HC smoke pots was focused on thermal techniques. The smoke bombs were heated in a carbon steel rotary kiln, reacting the HCE with the zinc oxide producing environmentally hazardous emissions as described above. The aluminum metal ended up as aluminum oxide. A large number of wet scrubbers with caustic soda had to be used to neutralize the produced acid vapors, and to absorb any gases. All this requires a high price tag in disposal fees.